If struggling with what to watch, Britons are as likely to fall back on rewatching something as trying something new
Key takeaways
- If struggling to make a choice on a streaming service, Britons are as likely to fall back on watching a show they’ve previously watched than to start a new show at random
- Younger people are more likely to fall back on rewatching shows than older people
- Britons are more likely to rewatch comedy shows, with 50% of Britons say they’ll rewatch them a fair amount
- A majority of Britons (56%) rewatch films they’ve seen before at least fairly often
Once upon a time, television schedules being chock-a-block with repeats was a punchline. Today, though, watching a show again and again is a choice many of us actively make.
While there are various reasons to rewatch a programme, sometimes it can merely be a case of being easier to fall back on an old favourite than to decide what to pick from the never-ending digital archive.
Indeed, when struggling with what to watch on a streaming service, Britons are as likely to say they would tend to fall back on rewatching a show they’ve previously seen (29%) as they are to pick something random they’ve not previously watched (30%).
One in six Britons (17%), though, say they would typically turn the TV off and do something else if finding it difficult to settle on a next watch.
A tendency to rewatch is stronger with younger people, with 40% of 25-49 year olds saying they would fall back on the option, falling to just 14% of over 65s.
How often do Britons rewatch TV shows?
Comedy series are seemingly most ripe for being rewatched, with 50% of Britons saying they rewatch sitcoms they’ve previously finished at least a fair amount, including 16% who say they do it a lot. It would be a rarity for a further third of the public to do so (32%), while 10% say they would never rewatch comedy series they had previously seen.
Revisiting drama series is less common, but 34% of the public do at least sometimes start a TV drama again from scratch, roughly twice the 16% who will never return to a drama series they’ve concluded. For reality shows, though, the proportions are nearly reversed, with 17% at least fairly often rewatching past series and 32% never doing so.
But how does this compare to revisiting other forms of entertainment? Music unsurprisingly trumps television in the repeating stakes, with 79% of Britons regularly relistening to an album they’ve previously heard, and most people (56%) likewise rewatching films they’ve seen before at least fairly regularly.
Reading a book is more one and done, with just 23% of the public saying they reread a fiction book they’ve previously completed at least a fair amount, equal to the 23% who would never do so.
Video games are more divisive, with the proportion of Britons (23%) replaying previously completed video games at least a fair amount of the time being similar to the number who would do it rarely (18%) and who would never do it (19%).
Podcasts are seemingly the most ephemeral medium, with just 8% of Britons saying they relisten to episodes at least a fair amount, against 32% who would never do so.
Which viewers rewatch TV shows?
Rewatching TV shows tends to be a more common habit among younger viewers, with 54% of 18-24 year olds revisiting a previously concluded TV drama at least a fair amount, falling to 28% of the over 65s.
This is also apparent with those who watch reality TV, with 39% of 18-24 year old reality TV viewers returning to previously watched series at least fairly often, relative to 11-26% of reality TV viewers in older age groups.
Rewatching comedy is a little more universal across the age groups, with 54-62% of TV comedy viewers in our under 65 age groups giving such shows a rewatch at least fair amount of the time, though this rate does still fall to just 34% among those aged over 65.
This is, though, against a backdrop of the youngest adults being less likely to watch scripted TV in general, with 19-23% of 18-24 year olds saying they never watch drama or comedy series in the first place, relative to 3-9% of older age groups.
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Photo: Getty
